Our fab new mailbox and 'the golden rule'

So as promised, this first post is about one of the first things I found on Pinterest (sort of). After going back, I have realized I am not sure I actually found the inspiration for our new mailbox on Pinterest, but it was actually one of my first pins. In the beginning I was actually scouring the Internet and blogs for specific things I knew we wanted to change (i.e. modern mailboxes), rather than repinning other people's pins.
At that time, I was looking up from the computer every 5 minutes and saying 'Honey, you have to look at this'. One of the things I made sure he absolutely looked at was this mailbox I had come across on ModFruGal.

Since we moved into our new home a year and half ago, we have quite disliked the mailbox. It was a little blue house with a bird on it or something like that, I obviously disliked it so much I have already blocked it out. I guess it went with the styling of the house the people before us were trying to achieve, but it didn't work for us.

After showing Loren the picture and blog of the inspiration, he came up with his own styling, details and way to do it. I have no idea of the specifics of the how to and I seriously doubt he will sit down and document them. Sorry. :-(

But, being the creative and resourceful guy he is, he let the picture and styling percolate and came up with a beyond superb new mailbox that fits us perfectly.

The execution didn't exactly go as planned. After having a drought for well over a year, we recently have had a lot of rainy weather and while this is good on almost every level, this is not good when trying to do an outdoor diy project. So after 4 or so weekends, numerous visits from a curious neighbor wanting to know how it was going, unknown number of trips to the local hardware store, 3 layers of stain, many cuts and re-cuts and redesigns we have a fabulouso new mailbox. One that even a 5 year old commented on and our youngest (who is 4) proudly replied that her Daddy made it. Sometime during the first week of it being completed, my husband asked if the mailperson had left a note saying anything about the mailbox. I laughed and told him 'No', but then that got me thinking.

Now I don't know how the mailman feels about our new mailbox or if he drives up to and fills so many per day he doesn't even pay attention to them, but it made me realize that just by verbalizing something we are thinking, we could really make someone's day. How many times have you thought, 'oh, her hair looks good', 'he really is such a good parent', or 'I like what they have done with their yard', but never said anything to those people? If you are being honest, probably quite a bit. Think how much better you would feel if you received an unsolicited compliment on something you had done and were proud of or maybe just a compliment on your lipstick. Either way, I think in a small way the world would become a better place, just because two people would feel better. I guess this goes along with the 'pay it forward' philosophy, but it is also just the golden rule, "If you have nothing nice to say, don't say anything at all", flipped. So go to the flip side and change that to 'If you have something nice to say, say it!'.